whaddya tell yourkids?

this isthe worst part of reading the heavy financial doom at the latoc board I have two girls entering the work force:1 a software developer @60k, who is engaged to another developer. She's worked so hard in college; and at work it makesme ill thinking this whole economy may actually be coming to an end.The younger one is working hard waitressing in a restaraunt but being groomed for management. they deserve the America I grew up with. "See the usa inyour chevrolet"!kills me...

I think there may be a silver lining in the current economic crisis and it has to do with the next generation. Quite possibly our young people will learn early in their lives to prepare for the future, not to live beyond their means, not to take high incomes as their due for getting an education, to live on less and enjoy it more. Maybe they will learn that their happiness is not dependent on how many "things" they can buy. Maybe they will learn to save a little from everything they earn even when it means they have to go without something they may merely want. They might learn that life is uncertain on so many fronts and that it is their responsibility to prepare for those times. Maybe they will take less for granted and be grateful for what they do have. This is my hope.

What do you tell your kids? The same thing I tell my grandchildren - you will have to work hard for the rest of your lives so learn to take gratification from the effort itself. Do everything in your life with gusto but without guile. Rest at the end of everyday and be thankful for the smaller pleasures in life, a filling meal, a warm bed, fresh air, a loving family, a quiet moment sitting on a rock in the woods, a dog, good friends, and all the other small pleasures that make life worthwhile. After all, at the end of the day, it isn't the big house or the big car that gives meaning to your life. The trick is learning to recognize where real value lies.

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."Albert Camus________________________________If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day. Alex Nobel

If I have managed to get through the day without wishing bodily harm to another human being, if I have gotten through the day without killing a plant, if I have been able to get at least 2 hours of sleep, if I have been able to hide my fangs behind a smile and rain on my heart behind a laugh, it has been a successful day. my evil twin

You tell him the same thing you tell your kids - that there have been evil people from the beginning of time and ever there shall be. If the 90 yr old lost all of his savings as a result of Bernie Madoff, then it had less to do with the economy and everything to do with greed and an unscrupulous man. We always have to guard ourselves against the evil among us.

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."Albert Camus________________________________If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day. Alex Nobel

If I have managed to get through the day without wishing bodily harm to another human being, if I have gotten through the day without killing a plant, if I have been able to get at least 2 hours of sleep, if I have been able to hide my fangs behind a smile and rain on my heart behind a laugh, it has been a successful day. my evil twin

I've really grown to admire the bloggers a The Automatic Earth, who often say exactly what I'm thinking but just haven't found the right words for. I totally agree with the sentiment expressed here, especially since I'm not a go hole up in the woods kind of guy. Enjoy the moment you live in, for who knows how long you have left? That would be true even if the world wasn't bearing down upon the precipice.

The US has lost 3.6 million jobs in the past 14 months, half of which were in the past 90 days. That’s 20.000 each and every day. If this rate continues, the US will lose 7.5 million jobs this year. On Wall Street, today's reaction to the news is rising stocks. With so many Americans falling into the abyss of poverty and despair, not only do costs for companies fall, the chances for more and more taxpayer trillions being doled out also rises exponentially. Yes, there is still profit to be made from the misery of other people. So you would almost think that nothing's changed. But that's not true.

The stimulus and bailout plans merely accelerate a process that has long since become inevitable: the final demise of our economic system, our economies, our way of life and indeed our societies. No more free markets, no more capitalism, no more global trade or globalization, and no more democracy. Of course most of these things have long ago ceased to be anything but religious deliriums, but don't ever underestimate the power of belief. It will, in this case, linger for a while longer, until it's too late for most of us to prepare in any sensible fashion. And the usefulness of preparations is itself highly debatable in nations and communities where 95% or more of people have not prepared themselves for any sort of substantial change in the conditions of their lives.

How toxic hope can be is as obvious as a deafening siren with a blinding light when we look at the next round of delivering the scarce remaining wealth of the poor into the hands of the greedy few. But it's the poor who will soon need all the help they can get if we would want to prevent mass starvation, disease and uprisings. They won't get that help. The world at large will not recognize that capitalism has died until it no longer makes any difference whether it does or not. The people with their hands on the triggers and buttons are where they are because the deceased system put them there. They will only execute those measures which they think might in some magical manner revive the dead. Grabbing hold of ever more of other people's money is the only way they see to do it. You can take your money out of your bank, and that's certainly an idea, but you can't keep the ruling classes from spending what you have not yet earned. There is the catch. They got you by the balls.

A Fed official talks about the threat of deflation later this year while we have been in deflation for a long time. There's another president telling us there's no time to waste in pushing through an even bigger plan. Sounds familiar. There's a pattern there: the next plan is always bigger. More people start to wake up to the fact that we have entered a depression. But it doesn't matter anymore. A depression is a phenomenon that relates to a capitalist system, and we no longer have one of those. Still, we will pretend that we do until the last bit has been sucked out of the last sucker. Today's Dow rally is the next step in that process. In capitalist terms a Black Friday is one in which stocks go down. Not this one. The system has stopped functioning. That's hard to accept, to recognize, to live. It’s all we've ever known. We will keep talking till the lights go out. It's all we know how to do. But don't despair. Dance. Enjoy the moment you live in.
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I have to agree with courage on this, no one put a gun to the 90 year old person and forced them to invest their hard earned money. I have seen this type of thing happen with a lot of people who just had to "get rich" quick.

I myself have been given the same sales pitch numerous times on how I should invest my money. Instead of taking those kinds of chances because I do not belive in that type of "Gambling". I invested my cash in the preps that everone here expouses.

I would rather gamble on SHTF or TEOTWAWKI before I would go into any casino or see an investment broker, and for what it is worth Tango, your 1st daughters salary of $60K a year is a dream for alot of us who have worked just as hard. What she needs to worry about is if her job can be outsourced in the future.

Tell them to "pay themselves" first, before any bill is paid. take $20, $50, $100 whatever and pay yourself, either in preps, gold, stocks, cash, whatever. always pay yourself first.

Tell them to shut up and sit down, we're almost there.

Tell them that a little bit over a long time adds up to alot and self control and consitancy (dollar cost averaging) in money matters pays off.

The best way to get a raise (more than cost of living ) is to change companies.
Remind them that everything they do is resume fodder, to make them more valuable and make it easier to get that higher paying job.

Tell them you have 60-80 years on this earth, make the most of it.

How do you know where I'm at, when you haven't been where I've been, understand where I'm coming from.... Here is something you can't understand...

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. "-- J. Krishnamurti“The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” -- George Orwell
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they deserve the America I grew up with. "See the usa inyour chevrolet"!

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The USA that you and I grew up in is a thing of the past. Americans standard of living is going down and we are going to have to learn to do more for ourselves. Thats what I tell my daughter. I also make her watch the evening news when they talk about the economy. She freaks out every time they say how many people lost their jobs today. I keep reminding her that could be me at any given day. This is why we are planing to have the largest garden we have had for sometime, and that she really needs to help with the garden and animals.

OGM

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

I don't know the time in which you experienced childhood but the current economy will force us to return to the world of my childhood and I don't think that's a bad thing. I'm a baby boomer. This crisis is a realignment of our world. We will revisit that which many people feel was the best of times. In my childhood, I wasn't chauffeured to an endless stream of activities. If I wanted to go, I had a bike and I peddled. Adults lived with budgets and taught their children to do the same. We learned to can food, make homemade soup, have a picnic instead of dinner out. We had block parties with neighbors and fireflies in a jar offered more entertainment than a video game. A movie was all of us piled in the car at the drive-in, kids in their jammies, mom and dad with their snacks. We mowed our own lawns instead of hiring a lawn maintenance company and washed our own windows with old newspaper and vinegar. Pancakes needed a little flour, levening, salt, and a skillet, not a trip to Ihop. When we finally got TV, it went on after dinner and lasted until we were scuttled off to bed at 8pm sharp, no arguing. Respectful obedience was taken for granted since nothing less would be tolerated. My parents weren't afraid to give me a swat on the hinny when I deserved it and it wasn't child abuse, it was discipline. Our siblings were our friends and our playmates. We were expected to do our household chores without complaint, without sulking, and without rolling our eyes. We had less but we needed less to make us happy.

I never want to witness sweatshops, starving families, people freezing to death in their own homes but I have also tires of the whinning and complaining when life isn't "easy". Character is built by hard work and by learning to take care of ones self.

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."Albert Camus________________________________If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day. Alex Nobel

If I have managed to get through the day without wishing bodily harm to another human being, if I have gotten through the day without killing a plant, if I have been able to get at least 2 hours of sleep, if I have been able to hide my fangs behind a smile and rain on my heart behind a laugh, it has been a successful day. my evil twin

I think you grew up a few years earlier than I did. I'm 41 years old. I have never payed anyone to mow my law, we just stake a goat or two out and let them take care of it. Could not agree more on the following;

I never want to witness sweatshops, starving families, people freezing to death in their own homes but I have also tires of the whinning and complaining when life isn't "easy". Character is built by hard work and by learning to take care of ones self.

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OGM

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.

Most Survival Monkeys wouldn't dream of a lawn service but I have several maintenance companies as clients and you wouldn't believe the amount of money people spend to see bright green perfectly mowed lawns when they look out their windows. I would rather see the green in my wallet as I think most of us here would.

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."Albert Camus________________________________If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day. Alex Nobel

If I have managed to get through the day without wishing bodily harm to another human being, if I have gotten through the day without killing a plant, if I have been able to get at least 2 hours of sleep, if I have been able to hide my fangs behind a smile and rain on my heart behind a laugh, it has been a successful day. my evil twin

Most Survival Monkeys wouldn't dream of a lawn service but I have several maintenance companies as clients and you wouldn't believe the amount of money people spend to see bright green perfectly mowed lawns when they look out their windows. I would rather see the green in my wallet as I think most of us here would.

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When I lived in Tampa, it was commonplace for the more exclusive homes to have a monthly water bill approaching $30,000.00. 99.9% of that water was for their lawns.

Since all of my kid's,(6), but 2 of my son's, (oldest and youngest) Think I'm a totally insane old fart.....I don't worry about it too much. The oldest calls and we discuss his finances, loans, credit card debt, and filing of taxes....( The Deputy). The youngest is still learning and listening! They do pay attention and I am proud of that. In fact, my oldest son just had a baby boy and they named him after my father!
I must have done something right! I recall when they were in high school, they all got me a coffeee mug that had "Marble Nose" written on it!
Wonder why?
I'm not easy at all, but, there was a reason for being strict.....Never had to spank them, it was worse to set them down and talk to them, so they thought!
Today, I may not be on their list as being a favotite, but by golly they listened, they learned and they are all well and doing fine! ( I made them as independent as I could) That may not have been a "family oriented" thing to do, but they are (whether they'll admit it or NOT) : SURVIVORS!
Bill

Before criticizing another, first walk a mile in their shoes....Then you'll be a mile away, and you'll have their shoes!

Bill: I coulda' used a little parenting advice from you...
RH isyour"hinny "close to your "heiny"(lol)? grew up in the'burbs, pedaling everywhere tromping through our maze of trails in the woods near the metedaconk river, pollywogs, frogs, and bluegills filled the day.
At 11 we started riding japanese enduro bikes. I mowed our lawn.Shot my brother in the motorcycle helmet(and goggles) with a bb gun as he tooled around the backyard on his little yamaha lt-100(gun safety? I could'a put an eye out!). mom was a legal secretary and dad drove a semi and rode a blue and white '67 FLH I clearly remember seeing John Wayne in "the green berets" at thedrive-in from theback seat of our 66 dodge coronet pjs and all.Tv's had tubes; looked like furniture, and clunk-clunk tuners; repair guys were shaman...